Various types of surgical and medical instruments have been modified to conduct and project light in order to illuminate and thereby facilitate medical and surgical procedures. In some of these instruments, the surgical instrument itself is composed of a light conducting and projecting material that is attached to a fiberoptic light source. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,931,670, 6,059,723, 6,304,712 and 6,176,824. This technology has been utilized in dental suction devices, tongue depressors, surgical retractor blades, forceps, vaginal specula and laryngoscopes, among other instruments. In other instruments, a light guide or carrier attached to the fiberoptic light source is mounted in a channel and/or secured by tabs formed integrally in the surgical device. This is the conventional practice disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,088,066 and 8,920,316.
Forming an integral channel and/or tabs in a retractor or other surgical instrument for holding a light carrier must be performed when the instrument is manufactured. This adds a considerable amount of complexity and expense to design and fabrication of the surgical instrument. The overwhelming majority of existing surgical devices simply do not have the built-in capacity to hold a light carrier so that it may be used effectively during a surgical or medical procedure in order to better illuminate the area of the patient on which the procedure is being performed. Currently, there is no procedure or device available for retrofitting standard surgical tools to accommodate a surgical illuminating light carrier or guide. A need likewise exists for an improved surgical light carrier that not only is conveniently adapted for use with standard retractors and other surgical tools, but that also achieves reduced light transmission losses and therefore better illumination of surgical procedures than is exhibited by conventional tools